That's the short answer - the length of the aerial makes up part of the 'tuning' of the radio - so used to be length dependent for maximum range.
Rather than cut it, wrap it round a piece of (ideally) plastic card making sure none of the loops cross over themselves and tape to secure it, stick it in your truck's Rx box if it has one. If you're using 27MHz or 40Mhz then you should have at least 6" or 15cm vertically mounted for range indoors, more if out doors. If you're using 2.4GHz then 2" or 5cm should be enough.
Are you on 2.4 or crystals? You cant if you use a crystal set because the length of the aerial relates to the wavelength of the signal in some way. I have known people cut down the antenna on a 2.4ghz reciever, but personally I wouldnt bother incase you change vehicle or something. Just wrap a bit of it up inside the reciever box and use a shorter antenna tube, thats all I have done. Of course do a range test afterwards though.
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Posted - 01 December 2011 : 19:37:25
